Getting teenagers more active and how our gut hormones impact on obesity are just two of a wide range of topics being discussed at a major gathering of top national and international researchers at Auckland City Hospital today.

The University of Otago welcomed today’s release of the 2017 QS World University Rankings by Subject, in which Otago ranked among the top 50 institutions in the world in five subject areas and among the top 100 in 12.

Four University of Otago initiatives are among the latest projects to be successfully awarded a total of $2m in the 2017 Unlocking Curious Minds funding round. The fund particularly focuses on projects that engage young New Zealanders who have fewer opportunities to be involved with science and technology.

Diabetes is one of New Zealand’s fastest growing long-term health conditions with enormous costs for individuals, the health care system and society. This was recognised in today’s announcement by the Health Minister Jonathan Coleman and Science and Innovation Minister Paul Goldsmith for multi-million dollar funding on research to tackle diabetes.

The 21st Public Health Summer School starts at the University of Otago, Wellington today. As part of the Public Health Summer School, the University will host four free evening talks by leading international public health experts throughout February. The Wellington lectures are free and open to the public.

A new environmental simulation suite at the University’s Wellington campus will help researchers test ideas such as whether modern office environments might be contributing to the world’s growing obesity rates.

Staff and students at the University’s Wellington campus attended a wonderful student awards ceremony on Friday 18 November to finish off what had been a difficult week of earthquakes and floods in the Wellington region.

One of our graduates from the post graduate diploma in Aeromedical Retrieval and Transport at UOW featured recently in a story on Otago alumni. Dr Hamish Wright was the medical physician at the South Pole this winter and he assisted in a world-first medical evacuation of two patients in extreme conditions in the middle of winter this year.

University of Otago researchers have been awarded more than $13.7M in the latest annual Marsden Fund round to undertake 23 world-class research projects that push the boundaries of knowledge in their fields.

Viewing eyeballs through a microscope and discovering the huge numbers of cells in a “single eyeball slice” was one of the highlights for Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Mokopuna students on a recent visit to the University of Otago, Wellington.

A new study from the University of Otago, Wellington (UOW) found that the cost-effectiveness of the drug trastuzumab (known more commonly as Herceptin®) in treating early stage breast cancer was highly variable depending on the disease characteristics and age of the woman.

Researchers from the University of Otago, Wellington, have recently completed a study in Porirua City that found better facilities and affordable activities for youth are urgently needed to achieve social sector change.

The University of Otago this week renewed an important Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira. The MoU was signed at a ceremony at the University of Otago Wellington by Te Taku Parai, chair of Te Rūnanga, Sir Matiu Rei, Te Rūnanga Executive Director, and John Ward, Chancellor of the University.

A new study from the University of Otago, Wellington, with a unique angle and focus in Porirua city has found that better facilities and affordable activities for youth are urgently needed to achieve social sector change.

A new study led by University of Otago researchers suggests that July 2012 legislation that removed all point-of-sale tobacco displays from shops selling cigarettes has helped reduce smoking among New Zealand school students to record low levels.

A new partnership comprising the Healthier Lives National Science Challenge, the Ministry of Health and the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) has been formed to invest in research that will improve understanding, treatment and prevention of long term conditions.

Bread design could be substantially improved to better protect heart health according to new research. A team at the University of Otago, Wellington studied bread design from the perspective of reducing risk of heart disease, while keeping ingredient costs down.

A world-first study into the health and wellbeing of more than 154 million Indigenous and tribal peoples globally was launched today simultaneously in Melbourne and London, by Australia’s Lowitja Institute and the Lancet journal.

Experiments that extract DNA from saliva and use disclosing tablets to look at plaque on teeth may not be new, but the University of Otago, Wellington, and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Mokopuna are doing these experiments in te reo Māori.

Devising ways to better support very large patients is the focus of a collaboration between reasearchers at the University of Otago's Wellington campus, Victoria University and the health care industry.

New research from the University of Otago, Wellington, and Capital and Coast Health District Health Board (CCDHB) shows that the antipsychotic drug clozapine dramatically slows bowel function. Rarely, this can lead to serious or life-threatening consequences.

Austerity measures are seriously bad for our health, according to Oxford University Professor David Stuckler, visiting Wellington this week as part of the University of Otago, Wellington Public Health Summer School.

Innovative approaches to address traumatised indigenous communities will be described by Australian educators Barbara Wingard and Dr David Denborough from the Dulwich Centre for Narrative Therapy in Wellington tomorrow.

Leading health researchers and practitioners are meeting today to work towards preventing and controlling rheumatic fever across New Zealand and Australia. The experts are gathering at a one-day seminar at the 20th Public Health Summer School run by the University of Otago, Wellington.

A Wellington e-commerce start-up with a unique eco-idea to lower CO2 emissions has been placed second in a worldwide competition to tackle climate change at COP21, the 2015 Climate Conference in Paris.

A new report about the drivers of urban change in New Zealand by the MBIE-funded Resilient Urban Futures Programme has been launched in Parliament by MPs Nicky Wagner and Grant Robertson. The report ‘Drivers of Urban Change’ brings together the views of key decision-makers and cutting-edge research.

New research from the University of Otago, Wellington, has identified new risk factors for secondary stroke in patients who have suffered a ‘mini-stroke’ or transient ischaemic attack (TIA). The findings open the way for developing potential new treatments to prevent subsequent full strokes, the researchers believe.

New Zealanders are moving towards the idea of mixed-use development where housing is within walking and cycling distance of key amenities like work, school or shopping, according to a survey carried out by the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities.

University of Otago researchers have found strong evidence that levels of midwifery experience in New Zealand are associated with baby mortality. The study has been published today in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

A new book, Promoting Health in Aotearoa New Zealand, provides an in-depth scan of the health promotion landscape in New Zealand. It explores ways in which Māori, and other perspectives, have been melded with Western ideas to produce distinctly New Zealand approaches. In doing so it addresses the need for locally written material for use in teaching and practice, and provides direction for those wanting to solve complex public health problems.

Continuing annual 10% tobacco tax increases in New Zealand until 2031 should lead to health gains, net health-system cost savings and modest reductions of about 2% to 3% in health inequalities between Māori and non-Māori, according to a new study published by University of Otago, Wellington, researchers.

A new University of Otago, Wellington, research report has found that the main barriers to optimal health literacy—and therefore optimal care for Māori children with asthma—are structural and endemic to New Zealand’s acute care model of health delivery.

Self-management techniques need to be more widely acknowledged by mental health professionals as an option to help people who felt suicidal and better support provided to help them develop their own self-management strategies, according to new University of Otago research.

Women with near-fatal illnesses during pregnancy have been leaving New Zealand hospitals without the contraception that could prevent future serious harm to their health, a study by University of Otago, Wellington, has found.

New Zealand should be one of the safest places in the world to give birth with maternity statistics that are as good as or better than most other countries, says Professor Stacie Geller, an international maternal morbidity and mortality expert.

New Otago University research shows that introducing strategies that reduce the dietary salt intake of New Zealanders could reduce premature death and save millions of dollars annually for our health sector.

A law, developed in the 1940s to protect people from living in unhealthy homes, could be used to require landlords to provide housing that is free from dampness, according to researchers from the University of Otago and Victoria University of Wellington.

New research on the impact of the First World War on participating New Zealand soldiers shows they typically lost around eight years of life and had an increased risk of early death in the post-war period.

The signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between Kōkiri Marae Seaview and Tū Kotahi Māori Asthma Trust and the University of Otago next week will formalise a relationship that began more than 30 years ago.

New guidelines for active surveillance of prostate cancer will improve health outcomes for those with low grade diagnoses, according to two University of Otago, Wellington (UOW) experts who had input in to the international recommendations.

The University of Otago, Wellington (UOW) Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine recently hosted Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Mokopuna for two days of science, in an exciting initiative aimed at exposing year 9 to 13 Kura students to science not usually offered at their school.

A new rotavirus vaccine that has the potential to save over half a million lives worldwide each year has reached a pivotal milestone after clinical trials results found the vaccine provided a strong immune response in over 90 per cent of babies that received a course of the vaccine.

Political party representatives will be asked to outline their policies in three key areas relating to the needs of children at a public forum being hosted this Friday by the University of Otago, Wellington (UOW).

New research shows that Māori diagnosed with stomach cancer are 27% less likely to survive than non-Māori, prompting calls for recently-released national stomach cancer standards to prioritise the needs of Māori.

New research published in the New Zealand Medical Journal by ASPIRE 2025 researchers suggests the Government’s goal to achieve a Smokefree New Zealand by 2025 may be failing to gather the political momentum needed to ensure it is achieved.

As power prices continue in an upward trend as reported in the latest Consumer Price Index, a new study shows households looking to find ways to make savings could benefit from using prepayment metering.

New Zealand should re-consider the age at which its breast cancer screening programme starts in light of growing questions about the balance of benefits and harms for women under 50, public health experts from the University of Otago Wellington say.

Community smoking-cessation workers are calling for the government to subsidise a wider range of nicotine replacement therapies so that smokers can afford to use products that are proving to be more popular and effective for those trying to quit.

A novel trial that offers smokers the chance to try nicotine replacement therapies through kiosks in community locations is offering ongoing discounts on the most popular products to help people stick with their decision to quit.

Dr Benjapol Engkaninan’s childhood dream for an aerospace-related career was reignited when he began working with three aviation physicians in Thailand, inspiring him to enroll at Otago in the world’s leading distance course in aviation medicine.

Poorer smokers may favour “roll your own” and many falsely believe that use of loose tobacco is less dangerous than factory-made cigarettes, according to a University of Otago public health researcher writing in the British Medical Journal.

Māori, Pacific and indigenous leaders will next week join youth workers, teachers, community activists and others at a Wellington symposium to examine and inspire new approaches to Māori, Pacific and indigenous suicide prevention.

Two University of Otago researchers have gained top Māori and Pacific health research awards from the Health Research Council (HRC) to pursue studies into testicular cancer and heart disease, respectively.

Although people with low back pain consult with the Internet, family and friends for information and understanding of their symptoms, new research shows health care professionals appear to have the strongest influence on patients’ attitudes and beliefs.

A new classification of renal tumours that a leading University of Otago pathologist has helped develop is set to enhance the ability to develop treatments and more accurately predict outcomes for patients.

New research published in a leading international journal shows young people’s exposure to secondhand smoke in cars in New Zealand remains high, particularly among Māori and Pacific people, low socio-economic groups and those whose parents smoke.

An estimated 34,000 people, or about one in every 120 New Zealanders, were unable to access housing in 2006, according to the latest available census and emergency housing data, say University of Otago, Wellington (UOW) researchers.

A decent supply of affordable and social housing requires a concerted effort from government and the private sector as well as community groups, says Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman from the University of Otago, Wellington.

A just-published international systematic review has found a small and methodologically limited body of evidence which suggests that in-work tax credits such as the one applied in New Zealand since 2006, may have no discernible effects on the health of parents.

The Housing and Health Research Programme/He Kainga Oranga at the University of Otago, Wellington and the New Zealand Green Building Council are co-operating to develop a new test that could pass or fail houses with a ‘Warrant of Fitness’ (WoF) type assessment.

One in 10 admissions to hospital in New Zealand to treat infectious diseases such as pneumonia, meningococcal disease and tuberculosis are the direct result of household crowding a new study has found.

A significant proportion of injuries in the home, costing millions of dollars a year, are related to how a house is built and maintained, according to new research from the University of Otago, Wellington.

In a recently published collaborative study by the University of Otago, Wellington, the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University it has been shown that there are no ill effects from low level hydrogen sulphide gas on asthma symptoms or diagnosis in Rotorua. Hydrogen sulphide or H2S is responsible for the characteristic “sulphur” smell of Rotorua.

The Summer Studentship Programme, based at the University of Otago’s Wellington campus, has recently presented the results of its ten week summer medical, public health and science research projects. The 40 students are from the University of Otago’s Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin campuses, along with Auckland and Victoria Universities.

A study by the University of Otago, Wellington just published in the New Zealand Medical Journal finds that households with children that use prepayment meters to pay for electricity experience greater levels of economic hardship. Problems reported by families running out of credit, or ‘self-disconnecting’ as the industry describes it, included not being able to heat baby’s bottles, cook for or bathe their children, and increased family tension.

A world-leading ‘virtual radiation therapy training system’ which will radically improve the teaching of radiation therapy and facilitate cancer patients’ treatment will be launched by the Minister of Health, Tony Ryall, at the University of Otago, Wellington (UOW) this Thursday.

A newly published study has found that it would be relatively easy for New Zealanders to reach recommended levels of lower salt intake to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and stomach cancer. This is even if some meals have occasional high salt ingredients such as sausages or other processed foods.

A new free online educational resource has been developed by health researchers from the University of Otago, Wellington to help people learn about addiction directly from those who have experienced it.

Research just published indicates that New South Wales has one third of the people smoking in cars compared to New Zealand. Of nearly 5000 cars observed in Sydney, only 1% had smokers, compared to 2.9% of 10,000 cars in New Zealand.

British and New Zealand playgrounds have a significantly smaller proportion of people smoking than other types of public outdoor areas, according to latest research from the University of Otago, Wellington.

Public health researcher Professor Tony Blakely from the University of Otago, Wellington says the time for prevaricating about obesity is over with the release of latest child obesity figures by the Ministry of Health.

Skin reactions following radiation therapy for breast cancer have been the focus of a recent clinical trial conducted by Dr Patries Herst from the Department of Radiation Therapy, University of Otago, Wellington and a team of radiation therapists in public hospitals in Dunedin, Wellington and Palmerston North and Auckland Radiation Oncology.

Professor Brett Delahunt, from the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand at the recent Annual General Meeting for his exceptional distinction in research and the advancement of medical science.

Two research studies led by University of Otago researchers have challenged tobacco companies’ claims about plain packaging. Both studies were conducted by the ASPIRE2025 research group, which includes Professors Janet Hoek and Phil Gendall working from Otago’s Department of Marketing, and Professor Richard Edwards from the University’s Department of Public Health (Wellington).

A sizeable and “difficult to ignore” proportion of New Zealand children have experienced persistent low income and deprivation in recent years, according to a new University of Otago study using seven years of longitudinal survey data.

Recent research from the University of Otago, Wellington shows that loan sharks charging interest rates of up to 400% per annum are exploiting Maori, Pacific and low income New Zealanders and need to be better regulated.

University of Otago School of Pharmacy Senior Lecturer Dr Rhiannon Braund’s dedication to both her learners and profession has led to her being named the 2012 recipient of the Prime Minister’s Supreme Award for tertiary teaching excellence.

The University of Otago, Wellington in association with Regional Public Health is to hold the first-ever New Zealand symposium on Friday 8 June focusing on health issues and barriers to care faced by people who have been imprisoned, those coming out, and their whānau.

New Zealand is one of the countries critically examined in a major report on the planning of cities and their impact on population health, released this week. The report ‘Shaping Cities for Health’ was commissioned by a leading UK medical journal The Lancet.

An analysis of hundreds of print media stories on the death of Auckland resident, Mrs Folole Muliaga, after her power was cut off by Mercury Energy in 2007 has found that the wider issue of ‘fuel poverty’ was largely ignored.

Short term changes in household income have only small effects on health, but have more significant impacts if income is affected by unemployment or chronic health conditions, new research from the University of Otago, Wellington shows.